As you probably already know, I’m not a big fan of religion. In my mind, blind obedience usually leads to mayhem and oppression. In any case, my “favorite” religion, Catholicism, has just made it that much more apparent that it is still in the dark ages.
Apparently, the
Pope recently ruled that any woman who becomes a priest, or any bishop who ordains a woman is to be immediately excommunicated from the church. For religious Catholics, that’s almost worse than death.
Really, what are they thinking?
With more and more people leaving religion (and especially Catholicism), is the alienation of an entire gender the right move?
Then again, if the end state is that fewer people become sucked into a mythical dogma which discriminates against 1/2 the people in the world, then maybe this will end well after all.
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Prof A. Score One For Alienaiting Catholics. Anonymous Prof. 2008. Available at: http://anonymousprof.com/score-one-for-alienaiting-catholics/. Accessed September 7, 2008.
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Greetings! Saw your post in Google Blogsearch and came to read.
>”much more apparent that it is still in the dark ages”
Oh good. The Dark Ages was one of those wonderful periods in which arts and science flourished. Christianity flourished.
http://confessingevangelical.blogspot.com/2005/03/whaddaya-mean-dark-ages.html
>”Apparently, the Pope recently ruled that any woman who becomes a priest, or any bishop who ordains a woman is to be immediately excommunicated from the church.”
Fortunately the Pope did not rule that they are “to be immediately excommunicated from the church.” The Pope did restate that the women in question have already automatically excommunicated themselves from the Catholic Church. The writer at the Telegraph seems to have misinterpreted things.
>”a mythical dogma which discriminates against 1/2 the people in the world”
If by “1/2 the people in the world” you are referring to females, then you’re off by 2-3 billion people. The Catholic requirements for ordination also discriminate against almost all of the world’s 3 billion men in addition to all of the 3 billion women.
>”maybe this will end well after all.”
Catholics believe that 100%. According to the scriptures, the entire world is brought to perfection at the end of time.
God bless…
+Timothy
Timothy,
Thank you for your comment. It took me a while to figure out just where you were coming from with your commentary given that you simultaneously seem to agree and disagree with my post.
First, I would like to applaud you for being cordial and witty. That is not something one often sees when it comes to comments about religion on the internet.
That said, some comments about your comments:
1. As to my use of the term “dark ages.” You are correct, the pejorative definition is not technically correct. However, I was simply suggesting that this type of decision by the papacy is moving the religion backwards, not forward.
2. The few sources I checked about the facts of this situation seemed to suggest that this was an active decision by the pope. If those are incorrect, than it still doesn’t change the fact that such a concept (no female priests) goes against gender equality and, in my opinion, is fundamental amoral.
3. The alienation I was referring to was broader than simply this decision. By disallowing women from entering the priesthood, the church is sending a message that women are inferior in some way. They are not.
4. Your final statement, that the world is brought to perfection at the end of time, is to me the scariest aspect of religion. It suggests that a) there is an end of time and b) regardless of our actions now, all will end well. First, there is no evidence for (a). More importantly, (b) takes responsibility off of society and assumes some divine plan for the world. That type of belief is dangerous.
For your reference, while I’m sure the “god bless” was innocent enough, phrases such that only irritate atheists because they impose your religious beliefs on us. Wouldn’t a simple “be well” be simpler?
Be Well,
AP
Sorry for chiming in so late… I’m a wayfarer here on the web, and come across things when I do.
“In my mind, blind obedience usually leads to mayhem and oppression.” I couldn’t agree with you more, but why the assumption that Catholics, or members of any other religion, blindly follow their religion? If they did, there would be no such thing as apologetics, and the likes of Thomas Aquinas would have either not existed or must have been sufficiently ignored or suppressed in the past few decades (I might grant the latter…).
“By disallowing women from entering the priesthood, the church is sending a message that women are inferior in some way. They are not.”
While I couldn’t agree with you more that women are not inferior to men, I couldn’t disagree more that such a belief is the impetus for the exclusion of women from the priesthood. Rather, it is the belief that women are DIFFERENT from men. If you deny such a principle then not only am I barking up the wrong tree, but you you should go have a talk with some of your friends in the biology faculty (I hope that you have some! good people, them).
The duty of a Priest is not foremost to preach, or to minister to the flock, or to administer a church. Women can do all of these things just as well as men. But a priest’s first duty is to be another Christ, and to offer that selfsame sacrifice of Calvary again on the altar, by turning bread and wine into flesh and blood (believe what you may about it). It has nothing whatsoever to do with a man’s (or woman’s) ability to DO something. It is much like childbirth. A woman didn’t develop the ability to give birth through hard work and climbing to the top. It is in her nature. It is the same, in Catholic belief, with the ability to offer this sacrifice, to forgive sin, and to bless people, places and things. So when you argue this from the perspective of “equality,” in Catholic ears you might as well be arguing that it is an outrage that men can’t give birth.
Whether it be true or not, this is the tune you are whistling as far as any Catholic is concerned.
Perhaps some of the time people spend being incensed could be better spent understanding the things they are shaking their fists at. This way, even if they might be right, they won’t be barking up the wrong tree.
Blind as the day I was born,
Jason